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Didn't you just say you're out and sold everything? I don't know why I'm bothering to ask.

Well, I started typing and this basically just wouldn't stop. So it's a full on review. Apologies for the length! PROS Cinematography - Gareth Edwards knows how to shoot films and make them visually stunning, like the AT-AT emerging from the jungle, the shuttle flyby of the Erso' homestead, the set-up for the space battles, and even more. You felt as if you were apart of the action and fighting for your life or fleeing from terror from the devil himself. The man knows his visual set-ups. Special Effects - There was a seamless blend of both the CGI and the physical in many respects. The first reveal of the Death Star from the bow of a Star Destroyer, the battle at the Shield Gate with the Star Destroyers ramming into it, and even the resurrection of Tarkin and Leia. It was bold and an ambitious scope of effects work so that's definitely something to note. There were times where it felt a bit much and other times it was done perfectly. Music - Now, the pinnacle will always be John Williams. Hands down. However, I have to give mad props to Michael Giacchino for scoring and arranging the music from scratch in four weeks. There are elements which remind me of the work he's done on Star Trek and Doctor Strange as well as other music from his previous work. However, he managed to make new sounds that sounded similar to John Williams and could fit in the Star Wars universe but didn't necessarily ape them in their entirety. You can hear snippets of leitmotifs during scenes of the Rebel Alliance and Vader's appearances. He understands emotion and can convey it. The new themes and songs are quite good given the effort and time. However, his best work will always be the opening score of Up. A story for another time. Action - The action sequences in this film are the best ever seen in Star Wars. Period. First, it was just gritty and realistic enough to show you what war actually is like, whether it's being attacked in urban cities while you're on patrol or trying to survive a fire-fight. You start to get the "Wars" in "Star Wars" with this film unlike any other. You see the desperation of the Rebels and the lengths that they'll go to for what they're fighting for, whether to murder in cold blood or engage in a suicide mission based on a sliver of hope. Second, the space battles were great set pieces. It reminded a lot of what we see in the original trilogy but was just done well enough not to wholly be nostalgic. Finally, the deaths of the characters. There are no heroes or villains in wars: just survivors. Not all your friends come home from war and this reinforced the point well. I applaud Disney for taking this towards a darker tone and killing off the characters. Casting - The casting in so many ways was excellent. You could see the beginning of the camaraderie among the characters being formed. I loved Alan Tudyk as K2-S0. He was snarky and serious as a droid. He most definitely was not like the other-CGI-character-who-must-not-be-named. I loved how his motions were almost human but still robotic as well as the dialogue and loyalty to Cassian Andor. There was excellent chemistry between Donnie Yen and Jian Wen, with equal parts of gravity and humor. There was brotherhood between those two and also trust in each other. There was depth and pure villainy from Ben Mendolsohn. He wasn't a one-dimensional, bad-guy-of-the-week, but an arrogant, ruthless, and somewhat ambitious Imperial officer. You could sense his desperation to prove himself as well as his contempt for the condescension of Tarkin and the incompetence of his subordinates. There was a certain poetry watching him meet his demise at the hands of his own creation. Nostalgia - Where to start? There was just the right amount of nostalgia. I loved seeing Jimmy Smits as Bail Organa again, with actually decent and serious dialogue rather than the drivel from the prequels. Plus, the references to SW Rebeles with Chopper, the Ghost, and the Syndullas. Seeing Red Leader and Gold Leader again was wholly unexpected especially with their archival footage or re-using the shots. Plus, there's something to be said for seeing X-Wings and Y-Wings in action again on a scale of space battles alongside all the Rebel ships that we've seen before like the Corvettes, the Nebulon Frigates, the transports, and even the Mon Calamari cruiser. Seeing Peter Cushing brought back was a huge nostalgic throwback. You could sense how he he embodied detachment even ordering the destruction of Jeddha City and Scarif itself. Darth Vader - Enough said. This is the Sith Lord you have been waiting for. The nightmares that go bump in the night. He straight up murders the Rebel troopers, slicing and dicing through them like paper. CONS Character Development - Forest Whitaker and Mads Mikkelsen are such phenomenal actors. However, their roles were too short and felt almost like an afterthought. I wanted to see how Saw Guerrera evolved further into the extremist who was disavowed by the Alliance. Most importantly, what were the circumstances that led to Jyn being abandoned by him? Don't just talk about it but show some of it. Mads as Galen felt a bit of an afterthought in someways. They needed him to be the one to lay the trap in the Death Star Plans but didn't show more about his time working for the Imperials or develop a bit more of his family life and relationship with his daughter. He didn't seem to convey enough depth, despite the fact that his wife is dead and his daughter has been missing or presumed dead for so many years. You wear being teased with cake with icing on it but it turns out it was just really a loaf of bread underneath. A flashback or two would've helped this out and also show more of his cleverness working for the Imperials. Finally, Jyn and Cassian needed more screen time to show their respective youths. Cassian talks of losing everything when he was 6 but doesn't go into further detail than that. There is a ruthless streak to him especially when he kills his informant but it doesn't reveal as much as you hope. Jyn herself needs more fleshing out. How has she survived for all these years and what has she done in her time leading up to this? What motivates her rather than her apathy? I wanted to feel a bit more emotion especially at the end but it wasn't as poignant as seeing K2S0 or Baze and Chirrut die. They all need just a bit more screen time. The actors were very good but their talents were underused. Pacing - The first third of the film kept jumping multiple locations. I understand that the intent was to give a sense of world-building as well as how wide-ranging these events were all taking places. The beginning transitioned it a bit quickly from Jyn as a young girl to her as someone over a decade older, leaving you wondering what happened in between. Worlds and locations jumped quite a bit. This could've been a bit longer. I would've been willing to sit through 2.5 hours or even close to 3 hours just to slow down the pacing and develop some of the characters more. The third act was well done with Scarif but the lead up could've been slowed down a bit more to develop character relationships further. That way, the ending would've been more meaning with the bonds they developed. I will admit there's only so much you can do with film versus expanding it via books or television. But it is possible to pull it off. Special Effects - CGI Tarkin was well done but there were times that i was just freaked out by the uncanny valley. He was so bony and so unnerving when he had dialogue, even though there was definite gravitas. Leia was surprisingly well done just for her brief cameo. Darth Vader - Not enough Vader. More dead bodies. More explosions. I wanted to watch him rip up a ship further. Just like 1-2 more minutes worth of that. That's all i wanted. OVERALL GRADE I give it 4 out of 5 bricks. Definitely worthy of a 10221 Super Star Destroyer but not quite a 10179 UCS Millennium Falcon. Congratulations if you read it this far!

Just saw the movie. Absolutely blown away. You should have heard the applause when the credits started rolling, easily my favorite SW film. That ending scene was incredible. If you saw it, you know what I'm talking about. If you didn't see it yet, what on earth are you waiting for!

When analysing and assessing the investment potential of sets you always have to relate to the same basis to make things comparable (in terms of CAGR or whatever). It would be pointless if we started discussing about "winner sets" and "loser sets" with everybody relating to their personal buy-in. Of course your individual profit depens on your individual buy-in but "(individual) profit made" and "a set's (universal) potential" are two different things. Just as "investing" and "deal hunting" are two different things. People are constantly mixing up both terms which results in overall confusion in the end. If your buy-in is low enough, EVERY set becomes a winner profit-wise - but that does not necessarily have something to do with the question if it is a "growth winner". Like I said, everything depends on your perspective. And what you are relating to here is making profit off "deal hunting". We could discuss if "flipping" is really a form of "investing" at all or not. Or if a narrow definition of "investing" would necessarily include holding a set till after EOL (which is not necessary if you intend to make your profit mainly off the margin between buy-in and RRP). Anyway, that is not my point here. All I say is that if you are NOT relating to RRP when labeling a set as "winner" or "loser" you cannot compare anything anymore. So, all I say is an individually "profitable" set can at the same time be a "loser" set. You just have to point out what you are referring to in a specific case. Example: Exo Suit's value still hovering around RRP 2 years after EOL = loser set regarding growth potential. You wont see anybody here talking about Exo Suit as a "winner". Yet, Exo Suit bought at $5, sold for $30 = profitable transaction indeed, but still the set is not a "winner".

A grandma wanted to get rid of some toys her grandkids didn't open or want, so $24 later, tada!

Have a pair of rubber gloves on standby for when the return comes.

I took my son, age 6. He isn't a huge Star Wars fan. Asked him just now and he gives Rogue One a "9.5" and Force Awakens a "5". He did seem a little restless in the beginning. I tried whispering a few things to him so he knew what was going on. He loved the lines from K2...actually repeated a few during the movie.

YoYo.com 15% off 2, 20% off 3 and 25% off 4 using code TOYSFORALL, max $50 Select items, including Technic Porsche, but you might need to mess around a bit to get something good. https://www.yoyo.com/search?rf-Other Ways to Shop=Limited Time Offers&rf-Brand=LEGO|DUPLO

Multitasking= smooshing & watching tv, not much light needed either

Yea I could never get into this Kmart stuff but last week I saw Deep Sea Sub selling for $55 on Amazon and Kmart had them for $26. I would buy 3 and have $15 in points and I repeated this about 20 times. Sometimes i spent 105 and got back $86 in points. I got about 50 Subs around $20 each. The boxes though these guys ship in is crazy. Some just came in plastic wrap. Others creates with handles in the sides. All in all only one was unsellable.

What the Rogue One Missing Trailer Footage Tell Us About the Reshoots http://www.slashfilm.com/rogue-one-missing-trailer-footage/ Good read. I was wondering about what was missing.

Well if you are going to search for hoes on google, then you never know what you'll get offered if you know what I mean

I think most lego "investors" have an addictive personality, they find it very difficult to stop as they either just loving going through the buying / selling process and making money. I know I fit that personality and havr found it almost impossible to go even 1 month without picking up a bargain.

For those that care FYI Walmart shipped 3 to my house and 1 Site to Store without a shipping box. Incredibly the 3 sent to my house were in better shape than the Site to Store 1. All 4 were returned.

IDK non LEGO but 60%off? Star Wars The Black Series Kylo Ren Force FX Deluxe Lightsaber $80.00 in stock... https://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Black-Deluxe-Lightsaber/dp/B00YTZE7B0?psc=1&SubscriptionId=AKIAJ7T5BOVUVRD2EFYQ&tag=camelbrowser-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B00YTZE7B0

A few shots from the last few weeks

Recent sale at target, about half off (first pic) local barnes & noble finds in second photo, 10% off with membership.

I saw 4x 41233 earlier and passed. I should have grabbed them just to give @randrace some competition

If you have 5 years to wait and see. Maybe.

I respectfully disagree

Third Target's the charm! Actually went back to a Target I hit up Wednesday once I saw their stock went up by 120 yesterday. Funny thing was that this was out on the floor in a big Lego Batman Movie cardboard display with 120 poly bags in total (4 rows of 3 sets of 10). Spent over an hour smooshing but made no mistakes! Only took an extra bag because I wanted 21 poly bags to go along with a Deadpool Marvel Legends fig to use the target $25 off $100. It was fairly easy to smoosh. The only thing that threw me off was Mime's Mohawk but since it didn't feel like anything else I was able to deduce what it was by the end.

We have our own private budgets to spend money on things the other doesn't have a say in. So I use my budget on Lego, and she uses it on clothes, shoes...

I believe he meant he trusted Leia to contact Ben.

But that link isn't active until you request to join the group. Find the link for the spoiler forum at the bottom of the main forum home page.

Everything is Asylum!

Join the spoiler thread and fire at the ready .

i do think an update of 10198 is entirely possible...

No one has said anything about BB8. It´s a wasted opportunity if Lego don´t make a UCS or larger scale model in time for Ep8.

Looks like everyone has been buying the same stuff recently. Respect for the last pic where there is some diversity.

Humbug

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Next week's ad is showing 20% off city, elves, duplo, and minecraft. Final push time...

A Dutch Bar & Family Apartment by Barrie Crossan

Little while in the making... 15x 75913 F14 Ferrari ~65.99 each 15x Technic Crawler Crane ~ 89.99 each 12x AT-AT ~185 each 70x Livi Pop Star House ~49 each 12x Walle ~50 each 38x Dr Turdis ~38.99 each

* since this is a hidden group I guess it is ok

I really loved this movie though - I hope that when they release it, they include the alternate versions, deleted scenes, etc.

Do you like money? You can make something on them now or hold out for probably better returns less than a year from now.

That's what I thought about Bugs Bunny's "What's up Doc?" - Okay Bugs, we get it.

The repetition of that quote throughout the movie actually annoyed me.

For Priority Mail packages, simply opening up an insurance claim online (since they're automatically insured for $50 - $100) works wonders for getting them moving again. Sometimes the postal service just needs a little extra incentive. No idea if that works for 1st class or parcel select, if you haven't separately insured it. I've only had one 1st class or parcel select package lost in the past 10 years though. Seriously. People like to hate on the post office, but in my experience it delivers 99.999% of the time, and handles packages more gently than the private carriers.

LEGO Creator Expert Ferris Wheel $159.99 http://www.walmart.com/ip/LEGO-Creator-Expert-Ferris-Wheel/42104279

Krypto has its own polybag as well

These two are different enough I'm not worried. This isn't a new Landspeeder, these are two different structures.

No more distracting than it was in Ant-Man, Tron Legacy or Civil War. I tinkled a little down my leg.

What is the turd fighter? Is the a plumber set or something I missed?

Turd FIghter Krock E Mart Simpsons Heist Failure Wheel SHIELD Hellforinvestors Temple of Atishoo is limit 5 but I think it is done too.

I thought someone mentioned something about a sabatical earlier. Anyone remember who?